Hot Hot weekend and an early surprise!

Adelaide managed to swelter through another hot weekend. This time with both days over 40 degrees. It was so hot even a kangaroo decided to take shelter in our shade house.


Thankfully the cool change came through the night. Now, I have to admit, it's too chilly! Last time I looked it was 13 degrees in the coop! 24 hours ago it was more like 34 degrees and in midday it got up well over 45 degrees. At least it was the weekend and it allowed us humans to run around in the heat making sure the chickens were cool enough.

This morning I was sweeping up their nightly poo fest from under the perches and checking on their food. Interestingly, Buffy came into the coop and jumped straight into the nest box and made a nest. I thought it was just for Flopsy as Buffy has made nests for her before. But to my surprise, it was one of the Leghorns that came in and watched Buffy making the nest. I didn't think much of it as the Leghorns are only 3.5 months old, usually chickens start to lay around the 6 month mark, so nowhere near.

Anyway, went to work and came home to this:

 TWO white eggs? Now, either Flopsy laid two eggs in a day or one of the Leghorns laid their first egg. Looking at the eggs together, one of them is definitely larger than the other. My thoughts are that one of the Leghorns laid really early.

I've also noticed that one of the Leghorns seem to be developing their comb and wattles a bit more than the other. They are very red, but the comb hasn't started doing the characteristic side flop yet.

 In comparison to the sister, much smaller wattles and comb and a slight red colour only.

These two have names, Spot and Houdini, but I can't remember which one was which. Their feathering kept on changing as they grew, so we couldn't keep track of the one that had more spots. The Leghorn with the smaller wattle and comb is the friendlier of the two, I can pat this one easily, whilst the sister is more skittish.  Anyway, I have decided that the one with the bigger comb will be called Houdini, as she (most likely) made an egg appear out of nowhere!

Another interesting thing is that when they were chicks, their legs and beak were all pale pink and I thought it was due to poor breeding, but as they grew, their legs and beak took on a bright yellow colour. Well I learn something every day. They are still not pure white though, they still retain some black spots in their plumage.

All the chickens have been given an increase in protein, mainly from catfood mixed with rice or grains or yoghurt and oats. Mainly because they have all started to moult and grow new feathers and an increase in protein in their diet helps with this. All the chickens go absolutely nuts over this treat. I wonder if the eggs will taste fishy...I don't mind I like fish!

Stay tuned chickadees